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In our 2012 Summer Guide, you'll find stories about people pushing themselves to the extreme. They're squeezing everything possible out of these weeks of fleeting perfection, and so should you. Up at this latitude, the sun burns for a full 16 hours a day this week, tempered only by soft breezes and leafy alder. Dawn arrives around 5:20 am. Open the blinds and set your alarm clock; you can sleep again when the clouds come.
Everything you could want for a perfect summer is nestled here in this green valley between the white Cascades and the blue Pacific. After suffering through all that rain, drizzle, mist, flurries and fog, you should seize this.
So do something epic this summer. Something you'll consider quitting halfway. Something you're too tired to celebrate immediately after it's done. Something outside. You don't have to risk limbs—fill a grocery sack with wild blackberries, picking until your hands are raw and your belly aches. Find a shady spot in the park and plow through that 1,000-page novel on your bookshelf, reading until your eyes itch. We've got a few ideas here, but this adventure will be your own.
Just remember this: Any summer that doesn't require a trip to the pharmacy is no summer at all.
WWeek 2015